A Brand New Day

I once read an article written by an experienced mother shared her parenting advice. I cannot remember when or where I read it, but I will always remember one of the things that she said: that if something doesn't work today, do something different tomorrow. I've always known that it's never too late to try something new and different when you're parenting/educating a child. It may not be easy to throw something new at them, but consistency will pay off...eventually. I try to remember this, but sometimes it's hard.

One of the main reasons that I didn't want Maggie to go to preschool five days a week was because I wanted her to be with me. (now I would say that I can't handle the drama in the morning!!) We enjoy Storytime on Thursdays and I wanted our Tuesdays to be free so that we could have a field trip or just do nothing at all. I don't really think that she needs preschool every single day either. Unlike a lot of the kids in her class, she recognizes all of her letters and numbers and can write them too. She loves learning and doing work, so she can practice some skills at home with very little help from me. I won't lie, the cost had a little to do with it too. Lots of people do not realize that some things must get sacrificed to live well on one income. I don't get to be a SAHM and eat my cake too!

Most of our time after rest time is sort of busy. The girls wake up, eat snack, play and then before you know it I'm in the kitchen slaving over a hot stove. We eat dinner and then I usually try to wash the dishes and pick up all of the tea set/pots and pans/plastic food/puzzles/seashells that are all over the kitchen. Sometimes we just leave the mess and I take care of it after we come in from outside (you should see Big Daddy's face on those days) , but that's hard to do while giving baths, settling down for bed and being the only parent on duty while Big Daddy is at work or upstairs doing homework.

Anyway...
I blew off everything today (we did make up the beds before we left) and we went on a field trip. I put dinner in the crock pot while Ellie was eating snack and Maggie was watching "The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That" (what is it with that show?? she loves it, even though she's only watched two episodes!) and we were dressed and out the door shortly after 9:00. We were on our way to a nearby farm/greenhouse and a cemetery (Maggie wanted to "visit" my Pawpaw and my dad's brother) when we decided to go to visit family friends at their "farm" in stead. Maggie was excited about everything and Ellie couldn't wait to get out of the car once she saw the dogs Bailey & Speck. (We're going on a preschool field trip to the farm and greenhouse in October and we'll save the cemetery for another field trip.)

It was just what we needed.

I have no doubt that Maggie will have major issues come tomorrow morning (pray for her) but it was so nice to have a happy today. The girls came in, had a big lunch, rolled around in the living room floor and then went to their rooms and fell fast asleep. I was able to sweep the floors, clean the bathrooms, dust the living/kitchen/dining/master bedrooms and put my Fall wreath and scarecrow outside.

I love happy days in parenting!!